South State to buy Park Sterling in N.C. for $691 million

South State Corp. in Columbia, S.C., has agreed to buy Park Sterling in Charlotte, N.C.

The $11.2 billion-asset South State said in a press release Thursday that it will pay $691 million in stock for the $3.3 billion-asset Park Sterling. The deal is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

South State, led by CEO Robert Hill Jr., will enter Virginia after buying Park Sterling.

Acquiring Park Sterling, which has $2.5 billion in deposits and $2.5 billion in loans, would provide South State with its first branches in Virginia.

“Our partnership with Park Sterling is a natural next step,” Robert Hill Jr., South State’s CEO, said in the release. “We both have a common vision for building a quality regional bank in the Southeast, and this is a significant step forward in accomplishing that goal.”